Saturday, February 28, 2015

Hatred as an Article of Faith

On February 14, the Islamic State ritually beheaded 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian laborers in Libya.

The Islamic State sent me a letter this week, in the form of a short
film produced by ISIS's Al-Hayat Media centre. This was not addressed to
me personally, but to all Christians everywhere. Its title was A Message Signed with BLOOD to the Nation of the Cross.

This was a video of the ritual slaughter of the 21 Egyptian
Christians. Their blood flowing in the ocean waves was the 'signature'
at the end of the video.

As I write this it is Ash Wednesday. This is the start of forty days
of Lent, a period of fasting and contemplation for Christians all over
the world. For many centuries it has been a custom of Christians to
receive a mark of the cross in ash upon the forehead as a sign of
repentance. As I received this mark of the cross today I was thinking of
the 21 Egyptian Christian martyrs. Copts permanently bear the sign of
the cross, tattooed on their wrists, as a sign that they will refuse to
renounce their beliefs.

I read out these men's names at our morning church services on
Sunday, here in Melbourne. And I also choose to honour them by writing
to acknowledge the truth about why they were killed, and in particular
the explanation given by their killers. I also wish to record, as a
Christian and a pastor, my intense protest at the White House official statement
of February 15, 2015, concerning this event. This makes no mention of
the reason the 21 were killed: their Christian faith. This culpable
denial dishonours them, as it dishonours me and Christians everywhere.

The White House made no mention of the
victims' Christian faith, a culpable denial that dishonours them and
Christians everywhere.

The White House statement claimed that "ISIL's barbarity knows no
bounds. It is unconstrained by faith, sect or ethnicity." Not true. The
Islamic State's actions are constrained by its theology, and in this
case its targets are also determined on religious grounds; they were
Christians. It is not an endorsement of the killer's Islamic beliefs to
acknowledge that these jihadis follow a form of Islam, and that their
sect and faith does constrain their behaviour accordingly.

President Obama has defended
his administration's misrepresentations on the grounds that the
radicals are "desperate for legitimacy" so "they try to portray
themselves as religious leaders, holy warriors in defense of Islam." But
these are not desperate people. They are shockingly confident in their
beliefs. They do not 'try to portray themselves' as Islamic: they
sincerely believe they are. Christopher Hitchens got it right
over a decade ago when he suggested of Al Qa'ida recruits that 'they
believe their own propaganda,' and 'absolutely subscribe to the tenets
of their version … of their religion, Islam.'

It is not an endorsement of the killer's Islamic beliefs to acknowledge that these jihadis follow a form of Islam.

Obama also stated
that 'we must never accept the premise that they put forward, because
it is a lie.' This too is nonsense. A lie is a deliberate intention to
deceive, and these self-described jihadis are – at least by their own
understanding – speaking the absolute truth when they claim to speak for
Islam.

Some years ago I had the privilege of reading the Gospel at a Coptic
service held in St Paul's Anglican Cathedral, here in Melbourne. The
service was held to commemorate the 22 martyrs of the attack on
Al-Qiddisin Church in Alexandria on New Year's Eve. It was led by Bishop
Suriel, Melbourne's Coptic bishop. The Al-Qiddisin martyr's service
impressed me deeply. I long pondered the fact that the Coptic church of
Egypt has been grieving over the freshly dug graves of its martyred sons
and daughters since the dawn of Christianity. As I sat through the
service and sung the hymns about martyrdom, I thought, 'So this is what
it means to be a Copt'.

The Islamic State video, a polished production, depicts 21 Christian
men, hands bound behind them, being led one-by-one along a beach in
Libya to a point where they are forced to bow down with their heads in
the sand, and there they are beheaded, crying out Ya Rabbi Yasou
'Lord Jesus!', some reciting the Lord's Prayer. Severed heads were then
placed on top of each corpse, their Muslim slayer standing over them.
The final film shots show the Mediterranean washing red with their
blood.
The whole event was meticulously choreographed and rehearsed. The
video's obvious purpose is to humiliate and terrorise Christians, whom
it derisively calls, 'The Nation of the Cross'. I admire the courage of
the martyrs, who did not disown the name of Christ and the cross to
follow Islam, even as they were being mocked and killed by their
tormentors.

It is indisputable that the whole script of this video is intensely
religious. It is packed with references to the Qur'an and the Hadiths of
Muhammad. As Graeme Wood comments in an important recent Atlantic Monthly
article, the Islamic State adherents are constantly referencing Islam's
sacred texts. In their everyday speech, 'Koranic quotations are
ubiquitous'. This film is no exception. For anyone who knows anything
about Islam it is impossible to view this film without being aware of
the heavy constraining influence of the Qur'an and the Hadiths on the
script. These references are essential for understanding the true
context, meaning and intent of the film.

Egypt reacted angrily to the
executions, but it has a long track record of not prosecuting Muslims
who massacre Christians within its borders.

The Egyptian government reacted angrily to the executions, bombing
Islamic State positions inside Libya. Egypt was incensed about this
massacre – and rightly so – but it has a very long and enduring track
record of not prosecuting Muslims who have massacred Christians within
its own borders.
General Al-Sisi is a leader who has been complicit in
this peculiar form of Muslim cowardice. This moral inconsistency is
causing great division and confusion among Copts at the present time.

My comment after the Al-Qiddisi massacre in January, 2011, remains as
valid now as it was then: I deplore the lack of freedom of religion in
Egypt, the authorities' apparent unwillingness to protect the indigenous
Christian minority and its places of worship, and the lamentable track
record of the Egyptian justice system in securing criminal convictions
against those who have targeted Christians for attack. I call upon
Egypt's leaders to respond to these abuses honestly and with integrity,
without making excuses or indulging in denial.

There is a double standard in the house of Islam. Examples are
legion. The Jordanian royal house has been prominent in speaking up
against attacks against Christians in Iraq and Syria, yet at the time
when the Common Word letter was being released to the Christian world in
2008 under Jordanian royal sponsorship, its own Royal Aal Al-Bayt
Institute for Islamic Thought had posted on its website fatwas by its
Chief Scholar – the former Mufti of Jordan – which declared death for
Christians for the crime of leaving Islam, and even identified one
person by name (see here).

King Abdullah has on the one hand been a champion of the rights of
displaced Christians in the Middle East, and God knows they surely need
one. On the other hand he has held up the notorious Pact of Umar as evidence of Jordan's history of religious tolerance:

Jerusalem, which is,
regrettably, subject to the worst forms of Judaisation today, stands
witness to fourteen centuries of deep, solid and fraternal relations
between Muslims and Christians, enhanced by the Pact of Omar [ibn
al-Khattab], and promoted by my grandfather, Sharif Hussein bin Ali, may
God bless his soul.

In contrast to this historical revisionism, the renowned Muslim jurist Ibn Kathir, accurately described
the intent and effect of the conditions of the Pact of Umar as
guaranteeing the continued degradation of Christians under Islamic rule:
"This is why the Leader of the faithful 'Umar bin Al-Khattab, may Allah
be pleased with him, demanded his well-known conditions be met by the
Christians, these conditions that ensured their continued humiliation,
degradation and disgrace." (Those who read classical Arabic may consult
the Royal Jordan Aal al-Bayt Institute's own database of commentaries here, to view Ibn Kathir's original text.)

The highest legal authorities of the Islamic mainstream continue to assert the right of Muslims to kill those who leave Islam.

The problem is that as long as Muslims allow derogatory words like mushrik (associator, polytheist) and kafir
(infidel) to be applied to Christians, while also preaching Qur'anic
verses that denigrate non-Muslims, the hostility and hatred can only
continue. As long as the highest legal authorities of the Islamic
mainstream continue to assert the right of Muslims to kill those who
leave Islam, bursts of extreme religious hatred such as we have just
seen in Libya can only continue. As long as Muslims claim that the
well-documented brutal slaughters of Islamic conquest and the ensuing
oppression of nations under the Islamic system of dhimmitude were a
mercy to the world, the 'opening' up (al-futuh) of dark nations to light and truth, hatred towards non-Muslims will continue to arise in the house of Islam.

The fundamental problem is not peculiar variants of extreme religious
worldview, it is a deeply engrained religious worldview that is not
acknowledged by many who hold it. Those who, like King Abdullah, allow
it room to breathe by claiming that it is something other than what it
really is are as much a part of the problem as the violent jihadis who
are proud to own the worldview.

In the house of Islam, hatred has deep roots stretching back through time. In 1836 Edward Lane reported in The Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians
that it was standard practice in many Cairo schools to require Muslim
school boys to invoke daily curses on the heads of Christians, Jews and
other non-Muslims. In essence these curses called for the looting,
killing and enslavement of non-Muslims. It is only against the backdrop
of inter-generational hatred that a television series on the Protocols
of the Elders of Zion could have become mainstream viewing in Egyptian
society, and continuing kidnapping, rape and killings of Copts are
perpetrated without justice for the victims.

There is an ill-wind of hatred blowing in the house of Islam and it
has been blowing for a very long time indeed. When this wind is whipped
up into a tornado, the world is appalled, but it is the constant steady
breeze of hatred that is the root of the problem.

As this letter was addressed to the Christians of the world, here I
give my personal reply to the Islamic State, written as a Christian:

I am not intimidated by your hatred. Our Lord Jesus
Christ taught us not to fear those who may kill the body. The people of
honour on that beach in Tripoli were those 21 courageous Copts, who
dared to confess the name of Christ, even with a knife to their necks.
They knew well what choice they were making. You thought to humiliate
them, but the Word of God tells me they are the vindicated ones, the men
of glory. I believe they knew that full well.For you I have no hate, only pity. You wield the sword to kill
ideas and worship you do not understand, but you do this in vain. The
truth cannot be killed by your knives.General Sisi of Egypt was right: because of you, people all over the world are doubting Islam.

Mark Durie is a
theologian, human rights activist, Anglican pastor, a Shillman-Ginsburg
Writing Fellow at the Middle East Forum, and Adjunct Research Fellow of
the Centre for the Study of Islam and Other Faiths at Melbourne School
of Theology.

This represents a general opinion site for its author. It also offers a space for the author to record her experiences and perceptions,both personal and public. This is rendered obvious by the content contained in the blog, but the space is here inviting me to write. And so I do.